In order to share a little bit about our family to those of you that are getting to know us, we are a German Shepherd family. If you have ever been brave enough to exit your vehicle in our driveway, you are one of the few! If you haven't been to visit us yet, I feel that it is my responsibility to give you this information, lol. If you call ahead, we will make sure you are free to get out of your vehicle. Otherwise, they may keep you detained until we can rescue you.
The female pictured here is the daughter of our treasured "Daddy" who sadly enough, passed away this year after many years of faithful companionship to our family. Currently, we have five Shepherds. Yes, five. This is not a typo! We began with one and that quickly changed. Shepherds are incredible dogs and I could talk for hours on how wonderful they are and that everyone needs one, but I won't, and actually not everyone needs one because they are only good for certain people. Everyone has a breed of dog that suits them better, shepherds just happen to be ours.
Like most dogs, shepherds have a knack of knowing you better than you know yourself and they have an incredible working knowledge. Each has their own personality, for instance, our youngest is a quiet, watchful, dainty and a very cuddly shepherd that is extremely protective....too much so sometimes. The female pictured above is more playful and headstrong, and might knock over everything in the house to get into your lap. Another grown female is so extremely toy crazy that you have to make her lay still long enough to catch her breath so she doesn't pass out and then hide the toy, usually a KONG, and one more is a retired police dog that is extremely dainty and fierce all at once. Our male, is the most fun I think, he will lay as still as a mouse while he bats his eyelashes at you, pulling you into his trap and then when you lean down to pet him, he'll spring up and lick your face. It's his little game, problem is, he's not so little, weighing in over 100 pounds with a head as big as a yearling calf. He comes from a long line of West German Showline State Trooper stock.
Life here is never boring, sometimes we wonder why we do what we do, but then one of them will come and gaze into our eyes.....and we know. I have heard it said that some do not believe that animals have souls, they are the ones that have never looked into the eyes of a German Shepherd. And before I get all kinds of responses regarding animals having souls, lol, I know the scriptures very well and they speak clearly about animals in Heaven.
Scriptures state that the lion will lay down with the lamb and Romans 8:18-22 says that "all creation" suffers because of human sin and longs for deliverance that will come with out resurrection....."all creation" includes animals. At the time when God's people are raised from the dead, creation will experience what it longs for. It will be "set free from bondage to decay".
Isaiah 11:6-9 gives us an idea of what Heaven will be like, suggesting the presence of animals. "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear; their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea".
Scripture doesn't specifically speak of animals having souls, but they are God's creation and we have the responsibility to care for them. I'm not sure how many of them we actually need to be responsible for, lol, but I think we are doing our fair share! Along with the dogs here, you will find a horse, cattle, chickens, a duck and a turkey and one lone kitty cat that doesn't think to highly of the regal shepherds. She sure loves to taunt them though.
I would love to hear about your pets and/or livestock, or even about what type of dog you grew up with! They can be such lifesavers and heartbreakers, but wouldn't the world be lonely without them?
My grandparents had German Shepherds when I was growing up. I love them! My husband recently stated that he would like to find a good guard/family dog for outside. I suggested the German Shepherd but he is under the impression that they don't live very long. Being the tender heart he is he just can't lose a loving pet. I am actively looking for information (personal-heart knowledge not head knowledge) about the bread...I am from Mid Missouri, just above the Ozarks Mountains. LOL!
ReplyDeleteI love reading your blog about the Ozarks!
Monica,
ReplyDeleteThe life span of a dog is rather short compared to a cat, however we have known shepherd owners to have their pets live to be 14 years old + sometimes. I believe shepherds in general live to be 10 to 12 years on average. The larger breeds do seem to have shorter life spans than small dogs. Having said that though, the time spent with a shepherd is worth it. The loss is hard, yes. We went through that for the first time last year after having our first Daddy dog for 10 years.
Keep in mind that if they are spayed or neutered at a young age, statistics show that dogs in general, live longer.
My husband is extremely tenderhearted towards animals and it was a difficult time for all of us, but it didn't stop him from having them. We are completely sold on german shepherds and wouldn't have any other breed. My personal heart knowledge would recommend a german shepherd above any other breed.....to the right people. Some people are just simply little dog type people or some people are too busy to have a shepherd. Shepherds believe they are human and require a good family relationship to be happy and well mannered. They do take a commitment and we screen all of the families that come to us for puppies. Most of our puppies go to families that have previous shepherd experience, in fact I would have to say that all of our puppies go to people like yourself that have had previous experience with shepherds.
They are the best for protection, period, no questions asked. I like to say that they are the most lovable and huggable security system every created!
If you google shepherds on the internet, you will find a wide range of information including problems with the breed, but after almost two decades of shepherds, I can tell you that the problems are not as common as some make them sound so keep that in mind.
Please feel free to come back at any time and ask any questions you may have. Our Shepherd site is at www.shannonsshepherds.blogspot.com. We won't have any more puppies this year, but it's fun to watch the updates of previous puppies that we post when the owners send in new pictures. This is the first year we have been on the web so there isn't much internet history established yet.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!! Hope to see ya back soon!!